PARAGOULD,
Ark. (AP)----Hundreds
fled to high ground Thursday when Eight Mile Creek, gorged by
nearly eight inches of rain, spilled out of bands and flooded
residential sections of Paragould.Charles Cozart, Greene County civil defense
director, estimated 3,000 persons were forced from their homes by
flash flooding. Many returned to their residences Thursday
night as water began to recede, he said.Authorities reported no injury, but Cozart
said the flooding was the worst disaster to strike in his
lifetime at Paragould, a Northeast Arkansas town of about 12,000.At DeWitt, police said several
persons had to be evacuated from homes because of flooding.Cozart said losses here would
run into millions of dollars.National Guardsmen, county and state employes, civil
defense personnel and other volunteers used boats and big trucks
to evacuate persons trapped by the water. Cozart said it
rose four to six feet in northern and southern sections of the
city.The center of
town, on high ground, was spared. Surface water seeped into
some Main Street stores.Rescuers finished evacuating residents about 10:15
p.m. Thursday.Six
hundred pupils were taken by boat and truck from the one
story Paragould High School about noon as water swirled to
cartop level in the area, about three blocks from the creek.At one time, Cozart said, all
roads into Paragould were under water.James Biggs, among the volunteers rescuing
persons from their homes, said the water rose four feet during
one hour in places.